Record-tablet



lUMrTED STATES Ericao armar RECORD- TAB LET.

`Si?ECIIETCATION forming part of Letters Patent VNo. 311,724, dated February 3. 1885.

Application led August l, 1854. (No model.) i

o @ZZ whom, it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, J AMEs GRocKErT,a citizen ofthe United States of America, residing at l Bloomingdale, in the county of Luzerne and Slate of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Record-Tablets, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to a record-tablet for tombs, monuments, c skets, graves, 8vo.; and it consists in the'peculiar construction, combination, and arrangement of the parts, substantially as hereinafter more fully shown and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is asectional elevation, and Figs. 2 and 3 are detail views thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide a ready means of identifying the tombs, graves, and remains of the dead, in order that our descendants may be able to trace out and preserve those of their ancestors who may have been buried in crowded cemeteries or vaults of cemeteriesorwho may have been cremated, and whose ashes are rendered sacred by duty and affection, and also to preserve an unimpeachable family record.

In the accomplishment of this purpose I construct a glass case, A, of rectangular form, wherein is provided a longitudinal vertical recess, A', for-reception of a glass record-tablet, B. This tablet has inscribed in letters raised, impressed, or otherwise imprinted thereon decedents name, birth -place, residence, and placeand date of death, the names of decedents progenitors, and children,if any, and also the age at date of death, and such other matter as may be desirable to preserve, together with a likeness or portrait of the decedent imprinted in the glass. The tablet B is adapted as to size to the longitudinal recess A wherein it is inserted, and thus held immovable therein. rIhe mouth of the recess is tapered, as shown, and is closed by a coincident tapered glass plug or stopper, C, which prevents the tablet being shaken in the case.

C is hermet-ically sealed The plug or stopper in the glass case with the blow-pipe to prevent the possible ingress of moisture or atmospheric air.

I am aware that it is not new to inclose a photograph in a glass case and to secure such case in a tombstone as a means of preserving v the likeness of a deceased person; but it is a well-known fact that daguerreotypes and photographs soon fade out when exposed tothe action of the light, and would prove. utterly valueless for the purpose of my invention after the lapse of a few years, and hence such method could not be successfully employed for handing down the record and likeness of a decedent to future generations; but the more important feature of my invention is the preservation of a family record, as aforesaid.

The record-tablet is designed to be deposited in the casket or grave containing the remains` of the decedent, but may also be placed and rigidly secured in a suitable recess formed in the face of a monument or tombstone, especially when it embodies a likeness of the decedent, thus providing a sure means of identifying the remains ot the dead, ancestral and contemporary, and of handing down to posterity an unimpeachable family record lof priceless value to the descendants ofthe deceased, which in many exigencies would prove exceedingly valuable, especially in cases of litigation involving title toproperty.

Having thus fully described niyinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is*

A record-tablet consisting of the glass case A, having a tapered recess. A, and glass tab blet B, comprising a record, the tablet being inserted in the case and secured by means of the tapered plug or stopper G, hermetically sealed therein, substantially as shown,and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I afi-lx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES cRocKErT.

Witnesses:

THOMAS J. HOLMES, MARTHA R. Houra. 

